Mornings! UGH!
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Mornings! UGH!
| Fri, 07-14-2006 - 2:27pm |
Ok, we actually had our mornings down. My son was dressing himself and we were moving right along. Now, we are back to the same old thing. He won't dress himself. He knows how and just won't do it. He says he needs help. No matter how hard I try, I just can't get him to do it. Yelling, threatning, timers and rewards just don't work. My daughter and I have even loaded up in the car as if we were leaving. All that does is cause a melt down that still doesn't get him to dress himself. Why is it when you just think you have it figured out, it all goes and changes again?
Melissa

I am not sure why that happens, but it happens to us, too. For awhile, my son was pretty good about dressing himself and getting up on time and going to bed on time. Was even brushing his teeth by himself!
Last year was so much easier getting ready in the mornings and going to bed. It's been heck since January - which makes me think sometimes it may be stress as my ds is definitely stressed out now that his Dad is getting remarried.
Today was the first time in a long time that my 6 yo ds made his own breakfast *and* dressed himself completely. He usually insists that I need to help him in some way and I usually give in as I am trying to get out the door and go to work!
Reward charts and sticker charts never worked. Timeouts, physical punishment or taking away privileges never worked. Explaining things to him doesn't seem to work either. He just tells me that its "too many words, Mom".
What seems to be working for us lately was that my son was motivating himself - *he* wanted to do whatever it was by himself and he felt proud when he did it by himself. Only weird thing about it is he wants me to be out of the room (or the car if he is buckling himself in) while he is doing it. The only thing I've been doing lately is concentrating on praising him whenever he does something positive. Seems to be helping. I started doing that after he pointed out to me on a few occasions that I am always telling him what he is doing is 'bad, bad, bad'. I don't think I was saying it that often - I don't think I was even using the word 'bad'....but that was his perception.
Hang in there!